Electric attachment for ophthalmoscopes.



H. G. HEROLD. ELECTRTC ATTACHMENT FOR OPHTHALMOSCOPES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 14, :914.

1,1%5,5860 Patented July 6, 1915.

T T T Q QZi/bvwm 5144 0014 foz 2 wan H M M forms w Yo n u Applicationfiltedwillllarch v uy concern:

Be it known citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, inthecounty of NcwYork and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Electric Attachments for Ophthalmoscopes, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description. r 1 w Thisinvention relates'to electric attachments and more specifically toelectric attachments forvophthalm'oscopes of the multiple lens type. r

In order to insure the requisite amount of light for an examination; ofthe eye of the patient, itis common to use the so-called luminousophthalmoscopes which are generally provided with a condensing lens anda reflecting mirror Whereby the rays of light emanating'from a smallelectric lamp may .be focused directly upon the eyeof the patient sothat the examination may be con ducted independently ofany externalfixed source of light. l I

Luminous ophthalmoscopes of various typeshave heretofore'been used andgenerally comprise an electric attachment consisthandleare concealed theelectrical connec ing of ahollow handle for supporting theophthalmoscope, the handle carryingan elec'- tric lamp which is adaptedto slide within the supporting sleeve ,of the ophthalmoscope, uponwhichsleeve' is mounted the con- (lensing lens and mirror whilewithinthe tions for supplying current to the lamp and also frequently asourceof electrical energy such as a dry battery...

In the types of-='instruments heretofore prod ced and more frequently inthose in which the. current for the electric lamp is supplied by thebattery, difficulties have,

been experienced in obtaining the proper and uniform intensity of light,as the strength of current supplied by the battery necessarily varieswith the age of the battery. -Moreover, in all instruments pfthischaracter, it is desirable that the intensity of the light. beunderthe direct control of oculist or other person without withdrawinghis attention from the examination or test which he is conducting.

One of the aims of the present invention is, therefore, to provide aninstrument which will avoid these diiiiculties and will comply with therequirements above stated,the inrspecifi catiouof ietters Patent.

that I,;H RRY IIEROLD, ;a

only a part of the handle rile,

14,1914. seria1iro.,a24,ee5.f' l

vention consistingaof fplacing a current con} 1 troller within thehandle of the ophthal- =moscope which current controller is operated bymeans of an annular member or ring rotatably mounted on the outside ofthe handle and so positioned thereon that it may be manipulated by thefingers or thumb of the hand grasping the handle. The invention alsoconsists of-a simple and compact arrangement of the parts which aremanipulated during the test, that is, the

-member foroperating-the current controller, the driving mechanism forthe lens car IIBISY of thepphthalmoscope and'the member for moving theelectric lamp to change the focus of its rays are arranged in closeproximlty of each other so that; they may each be manipulated bygthefingers of the hand and thumb grasping the instrument, 71s

Without'necess itating a change of the position of the hand 01' WlthO11trequiring the oculist' or other person using the instrument withdrawinghis attention from the examination which heis conducting.

- Other obj ects of the invention will be. apparent to those skilled in'theart fromthe detail description hereinafter. set forth and pendedclaims. I v v In the accompanying drawings; Figure 1 will beparticularly pointed out in the apis a central .sectionof anophthalmoscope.

havingassociated therewith, an electric attachment embodying thefeatures ofthe in'-, vention; Fig. 2 is a front view of Fig.1, beingshown;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3-3 .of Fig. 1.

'For the purpose of illustration, an ophthalmoscope is shown which issimilar to that disclosed-in theapplication for Letters Patent of Gustav,Opitz,-,SerialhNo. 801,371, filed November 1 th, 1913, which,

instrument consistsbroadly of aatwo piece casing 1', inclosing lenscarriers 2 and 3 re-. spectively which are concentrically mounted on apin 4:. I

The lens carriers are driven by an intermediate gear 5 and a drive wheel6, the cas- 7 ing 1 being cut away to permit a portion of the Icircumferential surface of the drive wheel 6 to be exposed so thatv itmay be engaged by thefingers ofthe operator. The

casing 1 is provided with the usualalining sight openingliwith which thev arious com bination-oflensescarried by the carriersi g H and 3 arerespectively brought into alineinent to obtain lenses of the properpower for conducting the examination and tests on the eye of thepatient. Arranged within the casing 1 and interposed between the carrier3 and the front face of the casing is a slide 8 carrying a supplementaltest lens which may be thrown into an out 'of alincment with the sightopening 9- by means of a forked rod 9 which is adapted to be engagedbythe fingers of the operator. Secured to the front of the casing andextending from a point just below the sight opening 7 to the bottom ofthe casing 1 is a hollow substantially rectangular member 10 which isopen at both ends and in the upper end of which is placed a condensinglens 11. Preferably integral with the upper end'of the tubular member 10are lugs 12 extending from the side faces of the tubular member, whichlugs have their edges, which face the front of the casing, cut at an anle of degrees thereto, and form seats or a refleeting mirror 13. Themirror 13 is of slight spherical curvature and is provided with aU-shaped slot 14 in order that the line of vision of the operatorthrough the sight openings 7 to the eye of the patient will not beobscured. The mirror 13 is held in place by means of a U-shaped cap 15having inwardly bent lugs 16 which engage with and securely hold themirror against the seats 13'. The cap- 15 is fastened tothe lugs 12 andalso to the front face of the casing by means of escrow 17 sliding in anelongated slot in a lug carried by the upperend of the cap. Y

The tubular member 10 forms the casing for the electric lamp 18 whoserays pass throu h the condensing lens 11 and are reflecte by the mirror13 upon the eye of the threaded circular patient and the ophthalmoscopcis supported and the lamp 18 is carried by and receives its current fromthe electric-attachment which forms the features of the presentinvention. This electric attachment comprises a hollow tubularcylindrical member 19' of insulating material such as hard rubber or thelike, the outer surface of which is preferably serrated or roughened inorder to afford a good gripping surface. The upper end of the member 19is closed by a semi-spherical shaped cap which is broadly designated, 20and which has a opening 21 in its top substantially concentric with theaxis of. the member 19. A tube 22 which is also of insulating materialis threaded into the opening 21 and has a metallic lining 23, and theportion of the hollow tubular member 10, which extends below the bottomof the easin 1 is circularin cross section forming a ho low stem whichfits snugly within the lining or sleeve 23 and rigidly supports theophthalmoscope.

The lower end of the tubular member '19 is closed by a metallic cap orclosure 24 which fits into the interior of the member 19 where it isheld in place by means of pins 25 and bayonet slots 26. Secured to theinner face of the closure 24 is a helical spring 27 which yieldinglysupports a dry battery 28 and also serves-to electrically.

rent to the lamp, as will hereinafter he referred to.

The cap which has broadly been designa'ted 20 comprises a top 30 made ofinsulating material such as hard rubber or the like, to which is secureda depending metallic sleeve 31, which snugly fits into the upper end ofthe tubular member 19 and to which the conductor strip 29 is fastened.The sleeve 31 is secured to the tubular member 19 by means of screws 33,and surrounding the sleeve is an annular member or mng 32 which iscapable of turning relatively to the handle and forms the operatingmember for the current controller, which will now be described. v

Secured to the inner face of the top 30 is an annular disk 34 ofinsulating material, to which is fastened an arcuate shaped bar 35 whichis also of insulating material. A resistance 36 consisting of a wirewound around the bar 35 is fastened at one end to the metallic sleeve 31as shown in Fig. 3, while the other end is fastened to the insulatingbar, thus constituting the break in the circuit of the lamp as will belater referred to. A switch blade 37 is secured to an arm 38 which isrotatablysupported on a sleeve 40 of insulating material which passesthrough-the opening in the annular disk 34 and fits snugly intothe lowerend of the metallic lining 23, the switch blade and arm being maintainedin proper position to contact with the resistance 36 by means of aspacer block 41. Mounted within the insulating sleeve 40 is a hollowcontact plug 42, the lower end of which is headed to form a terminalcontact against which the positive electrode 43 of the dry battery 28 ismaintained in good electrical contact by means of the helical spring 27The switch arm 37 is connected to the annular member or ring 32 by meansof a pin 44 which passes through an elongated slot 45 formed in thesleeve 31, the pin being surrounded by an insulating bushing 44' whichprevents short-circuiting of theremeat 3 tively extendthroughsubstantially a quad rant of a circle and areso positioned with respectto each other that when the pin 44 is at one end of the slot 45, theresistance 36 will'be entirely out out of circuit as is shown in Fig.,3, while when the annular member32 is turnedto move the pin 44; totheother end of the slot 45,, the contact between the switch blade 37andihe resistance 36 is broken, theiend of tl e ,switchblade 37 restingon the endof,the arcuate shaped bar 35. Secured to the annular member 32is a pointer or marker 46 which registers with words On and Offprintedon the depending walls of the top and thus indi cates theposition of the current controllera Slidably mounted within the tube 22is a sleeve 47 having its lower end of enlarged diameter which isinelectrical contact with the metallic lining 23, within which sleeve issecured a contact rod 49, insulated from the sleeve but is in electricalcontact with the metallic contact plug 42 through which it passes. Theupper end of the sleeveji7 is provided with an interior thread intowhich is screwed the electric lamp 18 one of the terminals for the lampbeing the metallic sleeve 43 while the other terminal is the contact rod49 which is adapted to contact with the center contact of the lamp.

The sleeve 47 and hence the electric lamp 18 are moved relatively to thecondensing lens 11, to change the focus of the rays of light directedupon the eye of the patient by means of an annular member -50 whichsurrounds the exterior of the tube 22 and which is connected to thesleeve 43 by means of a pin 51 passing through a vertical elongated slot52 cut in the tube 22 andlining 23 respectively.

Assuming that the circuit to the lamp is broken, a. 6., the switch blade37 rests on the insulating bar with the pin 44 abutting the left handend of slot (see Fig.

3), to turn on the current, the annular member 32 is moved in a clockwise direction, to

carry the switch arm 38 and the switch blade 37 into contact with theresistance 36. Current will then passthrough the lamp by means ofthevfollowing circuit: from the positive electrode 43 of the dry battery28 to plug contact 42, contact rod 49, to the lamp, through sleeve 47,metallic lining 23, switch arm 38, switch blade 37, resistance 36 to themetallic sleeve 31, and thence by means of conductor strip 29 to themetallic closure 24, helical spring 27 to the negative electrodeorthecasing of the battery.

After the lamp has been lighted,'it is sometimes desirable to twist thelamp 18 within the tubularniember 19 in order to position the carbonfilament o f-the lamp so that the rays emanating therefrom will bethrown on the reflecting mirror 13 in'a predetermined manner as is wellknown to one slzilled in the use-ofthe instrument. The annular member32'may then be still further rotated in a clock wise directionto cut soas to, increase the intensity of the light, and it will be apparent thatirrespective of the position of the hand .on the hand member 19, thefingers or thumb of. the hand will be in a position to readily engagetheannular ring 32in order to control the supply of current. It will alsobe evident that the annular member 32 and associated parts serve as. aswitch for openingand closing the circuit to the lamp as has.b'een--described. I

The annular member 'b8lIlg located im mediately above the-top of thehandmember, and the drive wheel 6 being also located adjacent theannular member 50, any of them may be manipulated or engaged by thefingers of the hand of the operator during the test without withdrawinghis atten tion from the test which he is conducting. The aboveconstruction affording a very simple and compact arrangement of partswhich has been found highly desirable in practice.

While I have shown the electrical attachinvention' in combination withan ophthalmoscope, yet a hollow handle, which contains electricalconnections including aciir the person holding the handle, is adaptedfor use with instruments other than an ophthalmoscope and it is not myintention to limit this feature of the invention to a specific use withan ophthalmoscope, but only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Having described my invention, 1 claim 1; In an electric attachment fora diag nostic instrument, a hollow hand member, a lamp supportedthereby, electrical con-- nections for said lamp therein includingcurrent controller, and an annular member out a greater portion of-tlieresistance 36 ment which forms the main features of the 1 rentcontroller operated by an annular ring -mounted on theexterior of thehandle 111' a position to be grasped by the fingers of we rotatablymounted and surrounding the handle for operating said currentcoiitroller, said annular member being mounted in a position to bemanipulated by the fingers or thumb Oftlle hand of the ing the handmember.

2. In an electric attachment for a diagnostic instrument, a hollow handmember, a lamp supported thereby, electrical connections for said lampin said hand member including a resistance, a switch arm persongraspadapted for engagement with said resistance and an annular memberrotatably mounted on the exterior of the hand member connected to saidswitch arm.

3. In an electric attachment for n a diagnostic instrument, a hollowhand member adapted to contain a dry battery; an electric lamp supportedby said band member;

connections for electrlcally connecting the battery to the lamp,including a current controller comprising a resistance and a switch armfor engagement therewith, and

means comprising an annular band on the exterior of the hand member foroperating said current controller..

4;. In an electricattachment for a diagnostic instrument, a hollowhandle adapted to contain a sourcepf electric energy; a metallic sleeveon said handle adapted to support said instrument, a hollow tubularmember slidably mounted in said sleeve, an

electric lamp carried by said member; an

Gopiea of this patent may be obtained or electric resistance in saidhandle, a switch arm cooperating therewith and electrically.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington,D. C.

